I'm not a heartbreaker, so be gentle with mine
by Falazure
Summary: It's just a proposal, Hyde's been through worse and really how hard can it be? or: 5 times Hyde tries to propose to Jackie, and one time he succeeds.


Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing.

This is easily the longest fic I've ever written, so I'm glad to finally have it done but also a bit sad yanno? It's been a journey.

But this has been in the works for well over two years now and was initially prompted by me re-watching the show and lamenting the fact that we didn't get an episode about Hyde trying and failing to propose to Jackie, because it would have been hilarious c'mon. This did however end up less-funny than I'd originally intended because Hyde went and got all soppy on me, but I hope some of the humour is still there, also this is my first time writing any kind of smut into a story so I'm a bit nervous about that too.

(I also originally wanted to get this finished before or near Christmas back when I first started this and I've unintentionally managed to keep to that, so happy early Christmas J/H fandom!).

A few additional notes for reference and/or amusement:

The Slip n Slide was introduced in 1961.  
You can go swimming with dolphins in Wisconsin.  
While disco was mostly dead by 1982 there were still some smaller clubs that lasted till the 90's.  
You can hire the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders for events, and the cost is whatever the hell they want to charge you.  
While it's not explicit in the fic I ignore the entirety of season 8 and fudge my own ending of season 7, where the Chicago incident didn't end up anywhere near as messy, so if that isn't your jam then this may not be for you.  
And while there is no official year set for this fic I went with it being around 7-8 years after the events of the show.

And with that I hope you enjoy. :)

* * *

1:

There was nothing scarier to Steven Hyde than the fact that he wanted to marry Jackie Burkhart, and not just to appease her or make her shut up about it, but because he wanted to.

Really wanted to.

He wanted to make breakfast every morning while she sorted out the coffee(because Jackie Burkhat was still a lousy cook), wanted to sit on the couch or armchair with her curled up in his lap while they watched TV or hung out with their friends, wanted to wake up next to her every day and fall asleep with her every night.

He didn't want to be where she wasn't.

He'd never intended for this to happen, he spent so much time making sure that he'd never need anyone that he missed a petite and bossy brunette worming her way under his skin until he couldn't imagine life without her. He knew that years ago this kind of revelation would have sent him running for the hills, or hell he'd never have let it get this far in the first place and would have cut his losses before they even began.

But now he was sat in the local bar nursing a beer while Fez chatted excitedly about a girl at his salon who'd given him her number(and not a fake number at that) with a ring burning a hole in his pocket.

He'd bought it last week one day after work. He hadn't really planned it, he'd just decided to take a stroll into town after closing Grooves for the day, maybe pick up some more milk when he'd walked past a jewellery store and before he knew what had happened he had a ring in hand and significantly less money in his wallet.

The only problem now was that he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with it.

Sure he knew the basic gist of the whole thing, he'd give it to Jackie and ask her to marry him. But he wasn't exactly sure how to get to that point. Hyde had never thought he would ever be in this situation. Never thought he'd find someone he'd want to spend the rest of his life with.

Yet here he was.

" You know if you're not going to pretend to laugh when I make a joke then I really don't know why I'm here." He snapped back to attention at that, looking up at Fez to see a wholly unimpressed look on his friend's face.

" Sorry man." He shrugged a little and took a swig of beer, Fez's eyes watching him as his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

" What's with you? You've been acting weird all week." Hyde grimaced slightly as he picked at the label on the bottle.

" Nothing." Fez snorted at that.

" Liar." The other man shifted in his seat so that he was facing him properly. " Come on, something's up your butt." Hyde rubbed a hand over his face and sighed inwardly, he didn't want to have this conversation, not with Fez, not with anyone but... He did need some help, and hell maybe the guy could come up with something.

" See I went and..." He fidgeted in his seat, not looking at Fez while he tried to string together what he wanted to say. " I uh..." Words were not a strong point for Steven Hyde.

" Today would be nice." Fez looked at him pointedly, though the way his mouth was quirking up on one-side let Hyde know that he was enjoying his squirming. Giving up on explaining he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring box, placing it on the bar between them and gesturing towards it as he sat back in his seat.

Fez's face went from shocked to delighted in the span of about three seconds. " Is this what I think it is?" Hyde only winced slightly as Fez's voice carried across the bar, thankfully most of the patrons didn't seem to be paying attention to them.

" Yeah." Fez just grinned at him and made to reach for the box, but Hyde snapped it back up into his pocket before the other man could touch it. " Hey, paws off!" Fez didn't look put-out and he still had that dumb grin on his face.

" So, do you know what you're going to do?" Hyde scratched at the back of his head as he shrugged.

" I don't..." He trailed off into a sigh, looking around the room before settling his gaze back onto Fez, the other man waiting patiently for a change rather than just pestering him for an answer. " I've never really thought about it." Fez's eyes brightened instantly.

" You should take her dancing! Get the DJ to play a sexy salsa, then when you're finished drop to one knee and pop the question in the middle of the dance-floor." The idea of doing something that personal in front of a crowd of people sent an uncomfortable shudder down his spine.

"I don't dance." He blurted out of habit more than anything and Fez just shook his head.

" Sure you do, I've seen you do it loads of times." Fez replied so matter-of-factly that Hyde wasn't entirely sure if the guy was fucking with him, he probably was, but it was hard to tell most of the time.

" Yeah but not like.. that." Hyde leaned forwards in his seat. " I mean, can't I just take her out somewhere and then do it at the end of the night, like when we get home or something?" Fez let out a loud, dramatic sigh as he slumped back into his seat.

" Oh sure, I guess if you don't want it to be special or romantic." He rolled his eyes at Fez and took a swig of his beer.

" I'm good with that." Fez just tutted at him and shook his head mournfully.

" Poor Jackie, to have such a boor of a boyfriend." Hyde threw a handful peanuts at him and laughed when Fez squawked as several of them got caught in the collar of his shirt.

* * *

The thing is, Fez's idea wasn't completely without merit. Jackie loved dancing and the last time he'd gone with her was at her High-School graduation party years ago.

So here he was, freezing his nuts off while they waited to get into some stupid dance-club so he could try to be romantic for a change. He wasn't going to do everything Fez suggested, no salsa, and certainly no proposing in the middle of a crowded room. But he figured that he'd dance with Jackie for a few hours, go for a walk around town afterwards and then find somewhere secluded where he could potentially make a fool out of himself.

It was a plan, sort of.

" I still can't believe that you're actually going dancing with me tonight." Hyde snapped his attention to Jackie as they shuffled along a few feet in the line, his shoulders lifting into a nonchalant shrug.

" You asked." As if it was as simple as that, and from her slightly suspicious expression he knew that she didn't quite buy it.

" Yeah, but I normally have to bug you for a lot longer before you'll even consider it." Her gaze was unflinching and not for the first time he was glad his shades mostly hid his eyes from her scrutiny.

" Well maybe I just wanted to stop you from nagging me." A mock-outraged noise left her throat as she smacked him lightly on the stomach.

" Steven!" She was smiling though and he grinned back at her as he pulled her that little bit closer against his side. She let out a small huff but snuggled further against him, rising up on her toes so she could press a kiss to his cheek. " Well thank you for agreeing this time."

He ducked his head as he felt a flush crawl it's way up his face, shrugging again as he tried to play the whole thing off as no big deal. The smile on her face however let him know that he wasn't fooling her.

They moved forwards again, coming to the front of the line after a wait that Hyde would have preferred not to have done but as Jackie grinned up at him and bounced on her feet he felt his mild irritation melt away.

This night was for her and for once he was going to suck it up and act like the adult he was so he could make her happy.

The bouncer pulled the rope aside and Jackie grabbed his hand so she could pull him into the club, his feet only dragging slightly on the floor as he was guided into a room full of bright decorations and disco music.

They checked their coats in and Jackie made a beeline for the dance-floor, already perfectly happy to shake herself around to the beat.

Hyde let out one long breath and joined her.

* * *

Several hours and many songs later the music was winding down, a slow tune filling the room so that couples could shuffle along together and Hyde's aching feet were glad for it.

He hadn't flung himself around the way Fez was known to but he could still dance perfectly fine and his body had followed Jackie's along to the beat easily enough, he could even admit to himself that he'd had a bit of fun too.

Not that he'd ever let anyone know, he had a reputation to uphold after all.

Now though he swayed along with Jackie, her body nestled against his with her face tucked into his neck as she hummed quietly with the song and in that moment he didn't care that they were surrounded by people. He was going to ask her to marry him, she was probably going to cause a scene and he didn't fucking care.

He was so gone on her he kind of wanted to brick himself in the face.

He swallowed once, the hand on her back idly smoothing up and down as tried to pretend that he wasn't nervous as shit.

" Jackie?..." Her head moved away from his neck so she could look at him and while he still felt apprehensive, seeing her face was the all the push he needed. Now the only problem was choosing the right words. He wasn't good with romantic lines, or talking about his feelings, he avoided it most of the time if he was being honest. But he needed to actually try now, and the fact that he wanted to was still something he was trying to get used to.

He'd clearly kept quiet for too long though as Jackie's expression had become expectant.

" Steven?" He opened and closed his mouth a few times as he scrambled for a way to start this off.

" You enjoying yourself?" The smile he got for that was radiant, her left arm squeezing around his middle as she leaned up for a quick kiss.

" Yes, I've had the best time, you should come with me more often." Her look was pointed and he laughed softly at her.

" We'll see." Truthfully he wasn't entirely against doing this again, sure he didn't like the music and it was a bit too glittery for his liking, but he'd gotten to hold her close for most of the night so it hadn't been all that bad.

" Just you wait, I'll make a dicso-man out of you yet." He raised an eyebrow at that.

" Uh-huh." A grin and a nod was his response and while he'd normally happily tell her how wrong she was in her assumption he didn't want to spoil the evening they'd had so far. Steeling himself he stood up a bit straighter and looked her directly in the eyes. " Jackie..."

That was as far as he got as a guy who was clearly utterly wasted bumped into him, knocking both him and Jackie to the side a bit.

" Sorry dude, sorry." The guy slurred as his hand groped around for purchase on Hyde's shoulder, probably in an attempt to keep himself upright. Hyde shrugged him off, an annoyed frown pulling at his face which the other guy clearly didn't notice as he tried to hold himself upright by grabbing at Hyde again.

" Hey man get off." He pushed a little more forcefully at the drunk guy this time but it didn't budge him much.

" Sorry..." The hiccup in the guy's breath was the only warning that Hyde got, he managed to pull Jackie out of the way but couldn't move himself and was rewarded with the other man bending over and hurling all over Hyde's pants and shoes.

Jackie screeched in disgust as Hyde rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and sighed.

* * *

2:

To say the night out dancing had been a disaster was putting it nicely.

Even when they'd gotten home after Hyde had changed his clothes and taken two showers the scent of vomit still lingered, Jackie hadn't even wanted to share the same bed as him that night(though she finally relented when he pointed out that if anyone was going to be sleeping on the couch it'd be her).

To top it all off he had to throw away one of his favourite pairs of jeans and the shirt he'd been wearing hadn't been spared, even after four washes it still didn't feel clean.

He'd decided to scratch dancing off the list for potential proposal plans, besides if he went more than once during the same month Jackie would know something was up and he really wanted this to be a surprise.

So he had to change tactics.

It had been a week since his ill-fated proposal attempt at the disco club and while he had come up with a few ideas of his own none of them had felt like they were good enough. He wasn't about to make a public spectacle out of himself but he wanted it to be memorable too, something Jackie could gush to her friends and co-workers about to make them jealous.

He frowned as he sat at the cash register in Grooves, mindlessly tapping a pen against the glass counter as he seriously contemplated how expensive it would be to get the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders to spell out 'Marry Me Jackie' when the bell above the door chimed and Donna and Forman walked in.

It had been years since the two had gotten married, the second time had been a lot more successful than the first, and now they were even more nauseating to be around than normal. Which was saying something.

It didn't help that Donna had announced that she was pregnant a few months ago and Forman had been walking around with this half-giddy, half-terrified look on his face ever since. That expression was still firmly in place as he sauntered up to the counter.

" So Hyde my man, just came in to check that we're still good for this weekend?" Hyde stared at him blankly. " The Packers game?"

" Oh right, yeah I'm still good for that." He'd been so preoccupied with proposal ideas that he'd forgotten that he and Forman, Fez and Kelso had planned to go see the game while Kelso was in town. Donna gave him an odd look over Forman's shoulder.

" How could you possibly forget about the game? You guys wouldn't shut up about it for two weeks when you figured out you could all make it."

" Been busy." Donna looked around at the empty shop and then back at him, one eyebrow raised pointedly. " It's the middle of the day, what do you expect?" She still didn't seem convinced but dropped the subject until her eyes flicked down and caught the pad he had been writing on.

" What's that?" Hyde quickly shuffled the pad up with some stock inventory papers, intent on shoving all of them somewhere out of reach.

" Nothing." Donna didn't give him a chance to escape though as she blocked his exit and made a grab for the papers.

" Doesn't look like nothing." She was grinning, her hands getting closer to snatching the pad from him and Hyde cursed that she was pregnant because he couldn't push her away. He flailed his handful around as he tried to avoid Donna grabbing them but as he moved them out of Forman's reach Donna got a hold and tugged the papers out of his hands. " Aha!" She moved back round to the other side of the register as she sorted the inventory papers from the notepad. " lets see, stock-check, stock-check, and what do we have here?" She brandished the notepad proudly as she put the papers back on the counter and turned her attention to the small book, Forman peering over her shoulder to look as well.

" Writing in the sky, marching band, swimming with dolphins. Man, Hyde what the hell is this?" Forman was laughing as he spoke and Hyde was thankful that he was a bit slow on the uptake most of the time, Donna however wasn't and a hand flew to cover her mouth as it opened wide in shock. She turned to him, eyes-wide and her surprised expression morphed into sheer unadulterated glee.

" Oh my god!" Hyde grimaced as Forman shot her a confused look, still not getting it but that didn't matter as Donna bounced on her feet and waved the notepad around. " You're doing it!"

" No I'm not!" Her grin didn't falter though, she always saw through his bluster, even when he didn't want her to.

" Yes you are, because you looooooove her." She made kissy faces at him and Forman finally caught up.

" Oh." Forman's's eye's widened. " Oh!" his head snapped to Hyde's his smile less insane but still too wide for Hyde's liking. " You're really going to do it?" Hyde just shrugged but that was enough for Forman who kept grinning at him like a loon.

" Just a tip, don't go with the ring in Champaign, Eric's mom has told us enough horror stories about proposal's gone wrong that way." He hadn't been considering that anyway but he'd take Donna's word for it.

" I don't know what I'm doing yet." He sighed as he sat back down on the stool behind the counter watching Donna as she flicked through the notepad, he sat up as he suddenly had a brain-wave. " Hold on, you're Jackie's best friend."

" Yeah?" She shot him a slightly cautious look.

" So? She tells you stuff man, hell she's probably told you all sorts of ways she'd like to be proposed to." Donna made a face like she didn't want to admit that to him and shook her head.

" Hyde..."

" C'mon man, I'm asking for help here." He didn't have Jackie's famous puppy-eyes at his disposal but he sent a pleading look, well as much of one he could muster, her way and she stared him down for a moment before letting out a sigh.

" Alright, fine." She relented. " She'd kill me if she knew I was telling you anything because she's been wanting to keep any wedding stuff low-key." Hyde inwardly winced at that, knowing it was his fault. After the whole Chicago fiasco and nearly loosing her because of his damn pride she hadn't brought up marriage since. He'd been grateful that she'd given him some breathing room over the whole matter but he knew she still thought about it.

She was Jackie Burkhart, she'd been planning her perfect wedding since she was six.

Donna tapped her fingers against the notepad and gave him a considering look. " But she has mentioned that maybe if you were to surprise her at work one day and propose she'd be pretty happy with that." He nodded at her, he could do that. He'd need to pick a day that would work but he had a plan, a pretty decent plan really.

" Thanks." Donna smiled at him and handed back the notebook, Forman who'd been standing watching them pulled at Donna's arm slightly.

" Well as interesting as this has been we've got a doctor's appointment to get to." Donna nodded at him and they both made off towards the door. " Good luck man." Hyde waved him off and went back to checking his papers.

" Hey Hyde?" He looked up at Donna, her expression serious. " Don't mess this up okay?" And he knew she didn't just mean the proposal, he'd almost broken Jackie's heart completely once and neither of them were keen for a repeat performance.

" I wont." She smiled at him again as Forman opened the door.

" Good." She stepped out, but not before leaving with a parting shot. " Because I'll kick your ass if you do!"

* * *

It took him a couple of days to get everything sorted.

He'd planned on waiting until lunch and then going over to the TV station to surprise Jackie, but when 12 rolled around nerves got the best of him and he convinced himself that waiting until he finished for the day was the better idea.

When he had dealt with his last few customers he closed up the store in record time, got into his car and hauled-ass over to the TV station before he wussed out again.

He sat in the car for a few minutes after he pulled up to the building, working up his courage before he got out and walked towards the main doors.

He blinked as he entered the main hallway, staff were rushing back and forth and the receptionist Jenny, who had a smile for everyone, barely even noticed him. He managed to sign himself in and wandered down to the studios that Jackie worked in all the while trying to keep out of the way of flustered employees.

He frowned, starting to think that maybe he should reconsider this idea but he had already reached the office that Jackie shared with her co-worker Melissa and leaving now would only look more suspicious.

He rapped his knuckles against the door before pushing it open only to find Jackie frantically sorting through papers as the fax machine behind her spewed out more. She didn't notice him even as he stepped into the room and it took clearing his throat for her to look up at him.

" Oh my god is it six already?" She looked down at the watch on her hand and then back up to him, her eyebrows drawn together. " Oh no, no, no, no." She scrabbled the papers she'd been sorting together on her desk and shoved them as best she could into a folder before putting it on top of some others and turning to the fax machine.

" What's going on?" He'd never seen her office this chaotic, normally all her papers and files were kept neat and tidy and organised by the day so she could grab the scripts she'd need. At the moment though it all seemed to be a jumbled mess.

A long huff sounded from her as she rubbed at her temples.

" Our entire runner team is off sick, some stomach bug they all got or something, and they're the ones that bring us our scripts for the week but now we have to do it all ourselves and no one's sure where the right files are because we don't usually catalogue everything down there ourselves, so we're off our feet trying to find everything and-"

" Jackie." He stepped up to her and put his hands on her shoulders in an effort to calm her down, her voice had been reaching impressively shrill levels, even for her. She stopped talking once he moved up to her and took in a deep breath.

" Sorry." She closed her eyes and bumped her head into his shoulder, nestling her body against his for a moment. The peace was shattered seconds later as Melissa came barrelling into the room.

" Jackie! I found Thursdays script!" Jackie sprang from his arms and snatched the folder from Melissa, opening it as she moved back to her desk, her face lit up as she flicked through it.

" Oh my god Mel you're a life-saver, that's one less day to worry about." She immediately sat back down at her desk and started rifling through the rest of her papers, probably trying to make sense of it all while Hyde stood by the door feeling like he was getting in the way.

Jackie noticed him after a few moments, face pulling a little in regret. " I'm going to be here for a while Steven so you should go home, Mel will give me a ride later, right?" The other woman gave them both a smile and a nod before she went back to pulling papers off the fax machine.

" Actually, could I talk to you for a sec?" He shifted on the spot a bit, eyebrows pulling together in irritation as Jackie all but ignored him.

" Is it important?" She still didn't look up at him, her eyes fixed on the papers in front of her and he felt a surge of anger bubble up in his chest. It faded when she glanced up at him, she looked tired and he suddenly noticed how her normally perfectly styled hair was frazzled. She must have been running herself ragged all day. She frowned when he'd remained quiet for too long. " Steven?"

" Uh..." He couldn't do this now, she was exhausted and probably wouldn't even listen to half of what he said. " Do you need me to have dinner ready for you when you get back?" Her expression melted into a completely adoring smile.

" No I'll grab something here, don't worry about it." She waved him off as she went back to looking at the files, occasionally scribbling notations down on the paper. He hovered for a moment before he walked over and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

" I'll see you later." He murmured into her hair, Jackie gave him a vague noise of acknowledgement before he all but hurried out of the room.

As he left the building and headed to his car he had to admit that his pride was a little wounded, but he also knew that he didn't want her distracted and worn-out when he asked her. He wanted her complete attention and if that meant he'd have to time everything a bit better, well that was hardly the most difficult thing in the world to manage.

Or at least he hoped it wouldn't be.

* * *

3:

Hyde had brooded a bit when he'd gotten back that night, thankful that Jackie hadn't been around to see it and despite her earlier protests had made food for the both of them. He just set her plate on the counter, covered it with some foil and left a note telling her she could re-heat it in the microwave.

The kiss he'd felt at some point later in the night when he'd stirred from her getting into the bed let him know that his efforts had been appreciated, and on the following day she'd shown him her appreciation even more.

Hyde had stopped sulking after that.

However he was still left with the quandary of how to propose again and it had been two weeks since he'd last tried, partly because he was having issues coming up with something and because Jackie had been abominably busy at the TV studio. He wasn't about to repeat the mistake of his last attempt.

He sat frowning to himself during one of the business meetings he had to attend at the head-office every month and only noticed that it was over when everyone else started clearing out. He tried to not make it look like he'd only just started paying attention and feigned scribbling some notes into his notepad before getting up, he knew that some of the board-members gave W.B shit over hiring him and he really hoped he hadn't given them more reason to badger his father. Plus he didn't fancy getting another lecture on 'proper meeting etiquette' and tried to book it out of the room.

" Steven."

Shit.

The doors closed in front of him and he turned around to face his dad, expecting the stern expression he met on the other man's face. W.B studied him for a moment before he walked around and pulled out one of the chairs and sat down, motioning for him to do the same.

Hyde only hesitated for a second before following suit. " You seemed awfully distracted today, everything alright?"

" Huh? No I'm fine." From the look on W.B's face the other man didn't buy it and Hyde tried not to squirm in his seat like a scolded child.

" If you were fine you wouldn't have started at the table-top like it held the mysteries to the universe." W.B gestured to the table in question. " It's a nice table certainly but it's not that interesting, so what's wrong?" W.B's voice softened a bit at the end, he wasn't angry then, probably a little annoyed and curious more than anything.

Hyde looked away for a moment, not really sure how, or if he wanted to bring this up. he opened and shut his mouth a few times, still not really used to confiding personal things in W.B.

" It's uh..."

" To do with Jackie right?" Hyde started at him for a second before nodding, W.B smirked at him as he leaned back in his chair. " So what's the problem?"

Hyde scrubbed a hand down his face and let out a long sigh, peering at W.B as he decided to screw it and just tell him.

" I'm trying to figure out how to propose." The words weren't as hard to get out as he thought they'd be and W.B's smirk turned into a full-blown smile.

" Steven that's wonderful!" The other man got up and clapped him on the shoulders. " So how are going to do it?" He hovered over him for a second before he sat back down, looking at him expectantly.

" We'll I've already tried twice and they both went wrong so now I've got to come up with-"

" Say no more." W.B held up a hand to stop him. " I know exactly how to do this, I've been married before."

" Yeah, four times." Hyde blurted out almost a little hysterically.

" Which means I know how to propose, and I know Jackie so I have the perfect solution." Hyde waited a beat as W.B paused to snatch his notebook and write something down on it. " Take her to this restaurant and pop the question either there or somewhere more private." W.B handed him back the notepad and Hyde looked down at the name scrawled on the page, he immediately blanched.

" I can't afford this place." He'd been there once with W.B on his 21st birthday and had only taken one look at the menu, the prices of the entree's alone had nearly given him an aneurysm.

" Which is why you'll be using my credit card." He dug out his wallet and opened it to pull out a card, handing it over. Hyde hesitated, sure W.B was his dad but he still didn't feel right just taking the guy's money, his hesitation was noticed however and the other man just smiled at him. " Go on, it's my treat."

Somewhat reluctantly he took the card and tucked it inside the inside breast pocket of his suit.

" Are you sure?" W.B's smile only grew bigger.

" Take Jackie out and make an honest woman out of her Steven."

Hyde flushed a bit at that but well, point taken.

* * *

He hadn't told Jackie exactly where they were going, but he had mentioned that she should wear her best dress. She'd clearly thought he'd been joking for a moment but when he'd pulled out his rarely used suit from the closet(and even left his shades on the bed-side table) she'd realised he was serious and had excitedly bustled around to get ready.

She'd taken the best part of three hours to finally decide on her outfit and assorted accessories but despite his grumbling he couldn't argue with the results.

To him Jackie was always beautiful but the deep red dress she had picked out only served to highlight how stunning she was and Hyde had to tamp down the urge to haul her back into the bedroom and forget all about dinner.

But he had a game plan here so he firmly told his dick to shut up.

Jackie had stared out of the window for the whole journey in the car, clearly trying to figure out where he was taking her, and her eyes widened in surprise as they pulled up to the restaurant in question.

She turned to face him, eyes still comically huge.

" We're eating here?" He grinned a little before turning off the engine.

" Yup." He moved to unclip his seatbelt but was stopped as her hand gripped his arm.

" But how can we afford it?" He contemplated spinning some wild tale about how he'd been saving up for a few months but even though the record shop payed a decent amount there was no way a few months worth of wages would let him eat here, hell he's not even sure a few years would.

He could however tweak the truth a little.

" Well W.B was impressed with my sales-rates over the last couple of months so he wanted to treat me, and you, to something nice." The grip on his arm slackened and he pulled his seatbelt off and opened the door.

" And you picked here?" Her expression was a little suspicious and while he could rely on Jackie to be mostly self-absorbed she was actually a lot sharper than most people gave her credit for.

" You like places like this." He explained with a shrug. " And we haven't been anywhere like this since the last company dinner so-" He didn't get to finish his sentence as Jackie sprang across the gap between them and kissed him on the cheek, pulling back with a blinding smile on her face.

She quickly scurried out of the door and he followed suit, semi-reluctantly handing the keys off to the valet as Jackie came around to his side and placed her hands on his proffered elbow.

He tamped down on the nerves bubbling in his gut and lead her through the doors.

* * *

Overall the dinner was wonderful, certainly better than the places they typically went and while Jackie had been more than willing to spend W.B's money Hyde had kept her in check for the most part, though he hadn't been able to say no when she'd spotted that the restaurant served one of her favourite wines.

He'd made sure she only got a glass though, he wasn't much of a wine drinker and there was no way he'd let her have a whole bottle to herself.

They were making idle chat as they waited for the bill to arrive and Jackie nursed her after-dinner coffee as she used the fingers of her free-hand to play with his on the table. he wasn't normally one to be openly affectionate in public but it had been a nice night and he felt oddly warm in the after-glow of a nice meal.

The warm sensation however increased as the minutes passed on and when the waiter came over with the bill Hyde realised that he maybe wasn't feeling so good, he grit his teeth through it however and handed over W.B's card, signing the bill and gathering him and Jackie to go once it had all been sorted.

He hoped the fresh air would help but it only made him feel worse, the cold breeze making the nausea in the back of his throat rise up with alarming urgency.

He handed over his ticket to the valet and thought he was doing a passable job of looking alright until Jackie came to stand in front of him with her eyebrows drawn together in worry.

" Steven are you alright?" He swayed a little on the spot, swallowing down the nausea again because he really didn't want to ruin her pretty dress. She'd kill him, and he'd never get to see her in it again. Which wouldn't do.

" I'm feeling a bit weird." He could admit that much to her at least.

" Do you want me to drive?" He opened his mouth to tell her 'no' but another sudden swell of nausea hit him and he shivered a little on the spot, he was starting to sweat and he could feel his hands shaking a bit.

The valet pulled up in his car and he gave it one quick glance.

" Yeah, you probably should." That certainly didn't alleviate her worry and she quickly got him into the passenger seat before settling herself behind the wheel and driving off.

The journey was only twenty minutes, but it was the longest twenty minutes of his life. Every dip and bump in the road made him want to hurl and he seriously contemplated asking Jackie to pull-over so he could do just that. He managed to hold off though and when they pulled up to their apartment block he staggered upstairs as Jackie went ahead of him to open the door.

He didn't even pause for a second before he made a beeline for the bathroom.

* * *

4:

After spending a day curled up by the toilet or with a bowl in his lap Hyde scratched restaurants off the list entirely.

Fighting an upset stomach was not romantic in the slightest.

W.B had even offered to sue the restaurant for him but he didn't want the fuss, besides he'd found out that the meal he'd ordered had shellfish in it and that had always made him feel a bit under the weather. So really it was just him being a dumbass by not reading the menu properly that had ruined the night.

Now he was sat at the counter of Grooves again, thoroughly distracted by proposal plans as Leo effortlessly dealt with customers.

The oddity of the situation was not lost on Hyde.

He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn't even realise it was lunch until Leo had closed the door to the shop and dropped a sandwich onto the counter in front of him.

" You okay man? You've been out of it all day." Leo munched on his own sandwich as he stared at Hyde, his often unfocused gaze unusually intent. " You're not having a bad trip are you?" Hyde let out a huff as he grabbed the sandwich in front of him and took a bite.

" No, I'm just... thinking." Leo's face scrunched up a little at that.

" It must be pretty big if it's making you zone out like this." Hyde shrugged at him, not really keen on explaining the whole thing to yet another person but as the minutes dragged on Leo's eyes seemed to only get bigger with curiosity.

Hyde let out a sigh.

" I'm just trying to figure out how to ask Jackie to marry me." He rolled his eyes at the dopey grin Leo gave him.

" That's great man, so what ideas have you got?" Leo took another bite of his sandwich as he started intently at him which was more than a little unnerving considering that this was the guy who couldn't normally focus on anything for more than three minuets before getting distracted.

" I've already tried taking her dancing, going to a restaurant, surprising her at work-" Hyde cut himself off with an irritated noise, annoyed at himself or life in general he wasn't sure.

Leo just shook his head at him.

" See you're going about it all wrong, regular normal stuff isn't how you do it, you gotta like go all out and do something wild." The glint in Leo's eyes promised nothing good would come from asking, but frankly Hyde was starting to get desperate.

" Like what?" Leo grinned at him.

" When I proposed to my old-lady I took her to this monster truck rally, only we didn't just spectate I also got the driver to let us into the car after the show to take us for a spin and popped the question then, it was magical!" The image of Jackie strapped into a monster truck seat screaming for dear life, while amusing, was also something that would go down poorly to say the least.

" Yeah... I don't think that's really Jackie's thing." Leo considered his words for a moment and nodded at him.

" True, she's probably more of a rally car girl and those only have one seat." Hyde watched him munch on his own sandwich for a moment before his eyes brightened again and he braced himself for another wackdoodle idea. " Or you could like do up the shop, make it romantic y'know, ask her over and then pop the question."

And that... wasn't the dumbest idea in the world. It was surprisingly ordinary for Leo and Hyde mentally kicked himself for not thinking of it beforehand. Sure Grooves wasn't the most fancy place he could pick, but it would be quiet, intimate even and Lord knew how proud Jackie was with him for running this place as well as he did.

Yeah, it could work.

He didn't realise he'd been smiling until he looked back at Leo and was faced with an all too knowing grin, like he'd just solved the world's hardest riddle.

Hyde shoved at him and told him to hurry up with lunch while he thought over how to set this all in motion.

* * *

All in all it took the best part of a week to get everything he wanted. He couldn't suddenly turn Grooves into some swanky five-star establishment, but he could make it look somewhat more romantic with a few strategically placed sheets and candles.

He'd found some sheer blankets at a fabric store, pink just how Jackie liked it, and a few rose-scented candles that managed to effectively mask the smell of pot that clung to the store.

He'd even gone and gotten some genuine roses and had placed them in a vase on the counter, ready to be given to Jackie as soon as she arrived.

He was ready, well as ready as he was going to be and now all he had to do was wait for Jackie to turn up.

It was more nerve-wracking than he thought it'd be, at least every other time he'd done this it had been him going to make the first move, now he had to wait for all the chips to fall into place and it was making him want to run around the store a few times to burn off the nervous energy.

He didn't though, he didn't want to make breathing any harder than it currently was.

He kicked at his stool, got up to shuffle some records around and pulled at his collar. He was already starting to feel warm and Jackie wasn't even here yet, man he hoped he didn't sweat too badly as he did this, that'd be embarrassing as shit.

Something flickered in the corner of his eye and Hyde paused, only just realising that small plumes of smoke were coming from behind him.

He spun round only to see that one of the sheer blankets had caught fire at the bottom, the end had clearly been dangling too low to one of the god-damned candles and Hyde cursed as he sprang towards the offending piece of fabric. He yanked it from the window and threw it to the ground, stomping on it as he tried to quell the flames and noticed perhaps a moment to late the blanket next to it had also caught on fire.

" Fuck!" He yanked that one down too, throwing it on top of the blanket already on the floor and before letting this get too out of hand he ran and grabbed the others, tossing them haphazardly on top of each other before going back to stamping on the original offenders.

He coughed and sputtered a bit as the smoke billowed up into his face but soon enough the flames went out under his feet. He stamped a few more times to be safe and stood back with a sigh of relief.

It was a bit of a mess but he could salvage this, he'd toss the blankets away, clean up the floor and re-position some of the candles. Hell he might even have some spare fairy-lights in the back that he could hang on the windows instead. He gave himself a swift nod, he could do this.

Then the sprinklers came on.

* * *

As he sat on the curb across from Grooves with a slightly singed boot, smoke stains on his glasses and a towel wrapped around his drenched body Hyde was genuinely starting to wonder if some higher power was fucking with him.

He hadn't had luck this bad since he accidentally broke the Forman's hallway mirror back in 3rd grade, and even then he'd only fallen over and bumped himself on tables for a week instead of almost getting set on fire.

Okay maybe that was a slight exaggeration since the fire itself hadn't been remotely bad enough to damage anything bar his boot(and his pride) but the sprinklers were another situation entirely.

On the one hadn't it was nice to know that they were that trigger-happy in the case of a real emergency, on the other... He was going to have a lot of explaining to do to W.B.

Hyde's stomach dropped at that thought, so far he'd avoided any catastrophic fuck-ups with running this store, he'd ordered one box too many of an album once and that was it.

But this...

Half the shelves in the store had gotten soaked by the sprinklers and he wasn't sure if the other half had any smoke-damage yet, W.B had taken a risk trusting him with this store and now he'd gone and done what a good chunk of his board members had thought he'd do at the very beginning.

It was such a rookie mistake and Hyde wanted to kick himself.

" Steven!" His head snapped up at the all-too familiar shrill tones of a panicked Jackie and he barely had time to get to his feet before a familiar head of brown hair ploughed into his chest. She only stayed a moment however before jumping back with a squeak. " Ewww, you're all wet!" He rolled his eyes behind his shades and levied an unimpressed look her way.

" Yeah, getting covered head-to-toe in water will do that." She fixed him with one of her own withering glares before stepping up to him again.

" Don't get all snippy with me, I didn't do this." She gestured at his body with one had as the other fiddled with the blanket over his shoulders as she tried to pull it a little tighter around him. It didn't really budge but the gesture wasn't lost on him. " What happened?" She looked up at him with large eyes, worry shining from them even if it wasn't so obvious on her face.

He considered spinning some elaborate lie, about how he had been told to spruce up the place by his father but the last thing he wanted was to bring W.B into this, he'd have enough on his plate with the aftermath of this anyway.

" Uh, Leo wanted to like put some decorations up and they got too close to some candles and well..." He made a little poofing gesture with a hand and shrugged as if that explained everything.

A frown pulled between Jackie's eyebrows.

" Why did Leo light candles?" Hyde floundered for a moment, grasping for an answer that wasn't completely stupid.

" I think he muttered something about wanted to smell a garden at work or some shit... I don't know I didn't really listen." Jackie studied him for a moment, almost looking like she wanted to pry but settled on a shrug before tucking herself under one of his arms and leading him away from the commotion of firefighters that were making sure Grooves was safe.

" I should give him a piece of my mind for putting my man in danger." Hyde almost laughed at the utterly indignant tone of her voice.

" Please don't, it wasn't like he meant for this to happen." Hyde inwardly cursed at that only seemed to incense her more, Jackie's small body almost vibrating with anger.

" Steven! He could have gotten you seriously hurt." And he couldn't really ask her to back down from that, not without her really knowing something was up anyway.

" Okay well, could you maybe wait a few days? I just want to have a bit of peace before you start berating one of my employees." She huffed at him and rolled her eyes but he could feel some of the fight leaving her body.

" Fine, I'll yell at him later." He leaned in and pressed a small kiss to the side of her head as they made they way to his car.

" That's all I ask."

Besides, he needed to forewarn and apologise in advance to Leo. The full fury of Jackie Burkhart was not something to be taken lightly.

* * *

5:

Giving the news to W.B about the store had gone roughly as well as Hyde expected. He hadn't yelled or screamed his frustrations, but he was clearly disappointed and that hurt more than any yelled insult could.

A power that he thought only Ms. Forman held, but apparently Hyde had really taken to the whole dad-thing more that he realised.

There'd been no official punishment but Hyde had been told to take two weeks off while the store was cleaned and made sure it was up-to-code before going back. It was a gentle suspension but a suspension nonetheless and Hyde was the furthest from arguing over it, even if Jackie insisted that he should have.

Besides he'd told W.B the real reason the fire had started, Leo could take getting an angry Jackie in his face but trouble at work was a different matter. Hyde could man-up and accept the consequences for his own fuck-ups.

The time-off let him clear his head a bit as well, he figured that he'd spend the first week relaxing from everything, proposal plans, work, the lot and in the second he'd start thinking of more ideas, maybe he'd even buy one of those wedding magazines that Jackie thought she was good at hiding in their apartment.

It was a solid enough plan and he was considering which magazine he could get as he was buried under the hood of his car, it had been sounding a little off recently so he thought he'd take the afternoon to open it up and have a look.

He was in the process of checking the battery when he heard footsteps approaching, pulling himself out from the hood he turned around only to be greeted by Kelso, who had probably one of the most shit-eating grins Hyde had ever seen on his face.

The other man was in town for a few days while he visited his parents with Betsy though he was clearly child-free at the moment as the kid was nowhere in sight, probably off with the grandparents.

He sighed as he grabbed a cloth to wipe at his hands expecting Kelso to say whatever it was he'd come to say only to have the minutes stretch by as they both stared at each other like morons.

" What?" He was starting to feel a little wierded out and it only got worse as Kelso's grin got bigger.

" I heard someone's been having problems proposing." A snicker left the other man and Hyde groaned inwardly.

" Forman?" A scowl pulled at his face as Kelso laughed and nodded, he'd skin Forman's scrawny hide one of these days. " I don't know why I thought I could trust him to keep a secret." He growled as he threw the cloth in his hands onto the rim of the hood.

" I know man! You'd think you'd have realized by now that Forman can't keep shit to himself, pretty much everyone knows." Hyde's head snapped up to look at him at that, some of his shock presumably showing on his face as Kelso put his hands up. " No, no, Jackie doesn't know, don't worry." That alleviated some of Hyde's panic at least.

" So you're just laughing at me instead?" Hyde rolled his eyes as Kelso nodded again, big grin back in place.

" Yup, we're all rooting for you though." Kelso moved to nudge his elbow against his side and Hyde just about kept himself from smiling, it was never a good idea to encourage him.

" Well if all you're going to do is stand there and laugh at me you can piss off, I'm busy." He picked up the cloth again and turned back to his car.

" Nah I'm not gonna do that, well not only that. I thought I could offer up some ideas." Hyde could only blink at him.

" You've never proposed to someone Kelso." He said slowly, like he was explaining something to a small child.

" Duh, but it's not like you need to have done that to have ideas." And while Kelso had a point it was still Kelso, the guy who only last month had decided that trying to rollar skate on a slip'n'slide was a fantastic idea(it wasn't).

" I think I'm good." He said, moving to pick up a screw-driver.

" Aw, c'mon, I bet I have loads of things you haven't even thought of yet." Kelso whined as he swayed slightly closer, his grin still firmly in place. Hyde opened his mouth to tell him where to shove it when he huffed a little and turned to face Kelso.

" Alright, give them to me." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at Kelso expectantly.

" Okay well..." Kelso floundered for a moment, clearly having not expected him to relent so easily and that made Hyde smirk. " Take her horse back riding?"

" The last time we did that the horse bit me." And Hyde had vowed to never go again, much to Jackie's dismay. Kelso deflated a little but perked up against almost immediately.

" Take her skiing?"

" No."

" Go to the drive-in?"

" Classy, Kelso."

" Take her to Disney Land?"

" No."

" Take her to a football game?"

" This is Jackie, Kelso."

Kelso scratched the back of his head with one hand and Hyde was enjoying watching him squirm at least, especially because it seemed like the idiot had lost some steam. A considering look passed across the other man's face and Hyde prepared for the worst.

" A romantic meal?" Kelso looked so genuine with his idea that the snappy retort Hyde had prepared died in his mouth, still he'd already been down that route.

" I tried that remember? Puked my guts out the next day?" Kelso rolled his eyes at him this time.

" No, you cook her food at home and then pop the question." Hyde mulled over the idea, it wasn't as stupid as he had expected and while he'd technically tried food before, this time he'd be making it himself so he could guarantee that there wouldn't be anything in it that'd make him feel unwell.

" It could work." He relented and smiled a little at how pleased Kelso looked with himself.

" Right? And if you fuck-up again you could always screw her brains out and ask her then."

" Kelso!"

So much for his good ideas.

* * *

The next day Hyde put his, well Kelso's, plan into action.

Jackie had been busy at the TV station for most of the week again so he had ample time to go on an impromptu shopping trip for food, settling on a simple lasagna dish that wasn't the fanciest thing he could cook but it was easy and Jackie loved Italian food.

He'd also picked up some chocolate cake-mix as an afterthought, Jackie loved sweet things and hell, maybe he could give the ring to her as they ate it.

He'd spent the afternoon making the cake, settling it onto the side counter to cool off once it was done and then began the process of making the lasagna, hoping to have it ready when Jackie came in the door.

Once he'd put the lasagna in the oven he set about making the table look presentable for a change, he'd even found a nice tablecloth that would make it look a little fancier than normal, he was avoiding candles however after the fiasco with Grooves, but he had found a small faux flower pot he could place in between their plates for a little romantic flair.

Hyde nodded to himself as he looked at the table, all he had to do was dim the lights a little and he'd be set.

He busied himself with cleaning up the living room a little as he waited for everything to be done and was partway through putting Jackie's magazines into a little pile when his nose caught the whiff of something burning.

Eye's wide his head snapped up to the kitchen only to see small puffs of smoke coming from the oven.

" Oh no." He rushed over to the oven, grabbing the oven mitts as he pulled open the door and spluttered a little at the smoke in his face while he pulled out the now-charred lasagna.

He swore at the dish in his hands, too warm for him to hold even with mitts on and without thinking he chucked it onto the counter-top. He threw off the gloves and ran to open a window when he heard a loud clatter behind him.

Groaning inwardly he turned around, only to see his once pristine cake now on the floor in chunks.

Hyde pinched the bridge of his nose, one hand on his hip and he fought down the urge to smash the ruined lasagne on the floor as well, but his anger deflated into defeat.

He opened a window, scooped the lasagne into the trash and set about cleaning up the kitchen of the mess he'd made. It was too late to make anything else now, he'd just put everything away and get at least something ready for when Jackie got home.

* * *

Hyde had considered the night pretty-much ruined, his dinner plans had gone down the drain and the meagre food he'd been able to rustle up hadn't felt up to par to even think about proposing to her over.

Mac and Cheese was not romantic.

He was pulling on his pyjamas wondering if he'd insulted a witch in a past-life or something when he considered the other option Kelso had offered. It was stupid, probably doomed to failure, but fuck it all he was desperate at this point.

He wasn't entirely sure how this would work out but the moment Jackie came out of the bathroom he crowded against her and kissed her, gently at first, letting her back-out if she wasn't in the mood but she only giggled against his mouth and surged up to wrap herself around him as much she could.

After that it was a flurry of limbs and blankets as he lowered her on the bed, his body covering her own as his hands skimmed up her legs and sides, pushing the bottom of her blouse up her stomach as he lowered his mouth to kiss a path across her abdomen.

She sighed above him, her hands tugging a little at his hair to get him to go back and kiss her but he relented, he had a plan here and it involved as many orgasms as he could get out of her.

His hands slid up her thighs, his fingers hooking into her underwear and sliding them off before tossing them to the floor and moving himself in-between her legs. He kept up a constant stream of light pecks on her stomach while he slid one hand up to rub against her, a smile pulling at his lips when her breath hitched from the contact.

Her hands grew insistent in his hair again but he ignored it, moving down to replace his fingers with his mouth, that got him a loud gasp and a breathy moan of his name.

He kissed, licked, sucked and used just about every trick he knew to drive her wild, her legs shaking around his head by the time her back had arched and she moaned out her fourth(fifth?) orgasm. He pressed his mouth to the insides of her thighs, littering small kisses along the skin as he waited for her to come down.

When her shivers had subsided he leaned down again, intent on getting his mouth back on her but a pair of small hands gently pushed and tugged at him until he slid back up her body, her tired but very satisfied face coming into view.

His ego felt sufficiently stroked to say the least.

" What brought that on?..." Jackie breathed out, her hands having dropped a little to play with the skin of his collarbone and he simply shrugged at her, playing it cool. She pressed a kiss to his jaw and he smiled at her, turning his face so he could capture her lips against his.

She hummed against his mouth and pressed her body against him, moving to rest her head against his shoulder as Hyde rolled onto his back, tucking herself up against him.

Hyde stared at the ceiling as he contemplated his next move, his fingers absently smoothing against her skin as he ignored his very prominent erection in order to put his jumbled thoughts together.

He wasn't good with words but... Jackie had always appreciated his honesty.

" Jackie." He took in a deep breath, knowing that he needed to get it all out before he lost his nerve. " I know we've never been perfect, and that we've had our share of ups and downs." The understatement of the century to be honest. " But, I can't really imagine my life without you in it, and I know I always told you to not expect anything but... Will you marry me?"

He waited in tense silence for what felt like an eternity, the nervous pit in his stomach widening as the moments dragged on and for a horrible moment he thought that he had misjudged everything, that Jackie no longer wanted to marry him.

Then a soft, tiny snore broke the silence and Hyde's head snapped down only to see Jackie fast asleep on his chest.

He stared at her dumbfounded for a moment before his head thumped back onto the pillow, a frustrated sigh leaving his lips.

Something out there was definitely fucking with him.

* * *

+1:

Hyde stared blankly at the wall as he nursed a beer, mulling over every single one of his failed plans as his eyes flickered over the patterned wallpaper of the Forman's kitchen.

It had been a while since he'd been here outside of family gatherings but honestly he needed the space.

It wasn't that he was going to go back on his decision to marry Jackie, he was still sure of it, but he could admit that every failure had knocked his confidence bit by bit. He was just trying to figure out how it had managed to go wrong every single time.

He was even genuinely starting to consider trying out those stupid good luck charms that were advertised in Jackie's magazines.

The back door opening pulled him out of his thoughts and he turned his head to see Mrs. Forman walk in, a bag of groceries in one hand and her car-keys in another. She paused for a second when she saw him, a bright smile on her face in seconds as she dumped the bag on the table in front of him.

" Steven, what are you doing here?" She bustled about as she hung up her jacket and put the car-keys away. " You haven't had a fight with Jackie again have you? You two have been doing so well." She turned to him with her hands on her hips and he couldn't help smiling at her stern expression, he'd used the Forman's as an escape during some of their bigger arguments on more than one occasion.

" No Ms. Forman, I just needed somewhere to sit and think." He took a swig of beer and she made a funny face as she pulled groceries out of the bag.

" I can think of better places for _that_." He snorted at that, watching her put the groceries away before she pulled out one of the chairs next to him and sat down. Her gaze boring straight into him.

They started at each other for several awkward moments and Hyde squirmed in his seat.

" What?" He snapped and she rolled her eyes at him.

" Well you're in a mood, come on, out with it." She waved her hand at him, clearly in an attempt to prompt him into speaking but he just sat in place with his mouth shut. She simply gave him a look. " Steven, I know when something's bothering you, and something is clearly bothering you." He shifted a little in his seat at that. " So, out with it."

He squirmed a little more in his seat, scratched the back of his head before he sighed and leaned forwards on the table.

" It is to do with Jackie, but!-" Holding up a hand before she could say anything. " It's nothing bad, I'm just..." A long sigh left him. " Having some problems." She looked at him for a moment before shrugging at him.

" Having problems doing what?" He winced a little at that, remembering how excited and babbly she'd gotten when Eric had told her about his plans to propose to Donna the second time, but fuck it. He was already here.

" Proposing to Jackie." He looked down for a moment before looking back, expecting the excited shrieking but it never came. Instead she looked... proud and it made something warm settle in his chest.

" And what problems have you been having exactly?"

And at that he told her, at length all the issues he'd had, all the set-backs and frankly the stupidly improbable amount of bad luck he'd been having. He slumped back in his seat when he was done, swigging another mouthful of beer and looked back at her, surprised to see a wide grin on her face. " Oh Steven, no wonder none of it's gone right."

He blinked at that.

" Excuse me?" Because the last thing he expected was for this to somehow be his fault, he didn't choose to get food poisoning for fucks sake. She simply shook her head.

" You've not done anything dear, but I think you've been going about this all wrong." He pulled a face at that.

" By trying to marry her?" Mrs. Forman had been all for them getting married for years, had even been a not-so-metaphorical little angel on his shoulder prodding him ever since Jackie had graduated. There was no way she thought it was a bad idea.

" No, no, no no." Her curls bounced with her head as she shook it. " You've been going about your proposal all wrong, you're too busy doing things that you think you should do instead of what works for you." None of this was helping his confusion.

" I took her out to a restaurant..."

" Which was a wonderful idea, don't get me wrong, but it was also incredibly fancy and a bit over the top." He opened his mouth to protest. " I've met W.B, it was over the top." Hyde had to give her that.

Mr.s Forman eyed him for a moment before sitting up a bit. " Do you know how Red proposed to me?" He shook his head. " We went out one evening, nothing special about that night in particular, it was just the one that worked best, ate at our favourite restaurant and then after a lovely evening stroll he got down on one knee at our front door and asked me to marry him." Hyde frowned a little.

" That seems so..."

" Boring? Ordinary?" There was a smile pulling at her lips so she wasn't offended at least.

" Well, yeah." A short laugh left her at that.

" Of course it was, and that was the beauty of it. I didn't need two thousand roses spelling out my name, or a monkey to bring me a ring." She looked pointedly at him. " It was just me and him and a promise to each other." And suddenly it was as if everything clicked, he got it, and he knew exactly what he needed to do.

He scrambled up out of the chair and made a bee-line for the back door, only to rush back in a moment later to press a kiss to her cheek.

" Thanks Mrs. F!" He yelled as he ran out.

She waved him off as he left, smiling.

* * *

" You still haven't told me what we're doing here." Jackie huffed as he handed her a blanket.

" You'll see." That got an eye-roll but it only made him smile, he was feeing good and at the moment nothing could ruin it, not even a stroppy Jackie. " Come on, help me with these." He prodded as he threw the blanket he was holding onto the one already on the bonnet of the car.

She sighed but relented, helping him to drag out the last few blankets to put them on the bonnet before the two of them clambered up onto it, it took a little shuffling but eventually they were settled with the windscreen at their backs and their legs tucked under a pile of fabric.

It wasn't the warmest evening, and the car wasn't the most comfortable place to sit but as Jackie curled up into him as they looked out at the woods from their vantage point there was no where else Hyde would rather be at this moment.

" It is beautiful." Jackie breathed out next to him, her eyes gazing up at the stars above them. He smiled at that and tugged her closer against his side.

He wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, curled up in content silence, but with the quiet sounds of the forest at night and the starry expanse above Hyde almost forgot why he'd dragged her out here in the first place.

But, he had a question to ask and this time nothing was going to stop him from doing it.

" Jackie." He nudged her slightly, a soft murmur leaving her lips and she raised her head up from where she'd clearly been dozing a bit. He couldn't really blame her.

He moved to sit up and she followed, looking a little bemused but waiting quietly for him to continue.

He took in a deep breath and swallowed, reaching up to take his shades off and as he looked at her properly all the words he'd been practising in his head died on his tongue. Her eyes were glittering in the starlight, her inky-black hair was even darker, and her skin looked so soft it was almost like she was a dream.

She was beautiful.

" I love you." He blurted, though he got a radiant smile for it so he couldn't be too mad at his slip. He laughed softly at himself and shook his head. " You know I actually had a nice speech all planned out, you would have been proud." Jackie looked at him, confused. " But, I don't think that matters so much in the long run because the real truth of it all is that I don't want to be without you." He could see small tears gathering in her eyes, her lips parting in shock or disbelief, he wasn't quite sure which. Probably both.

" Jackie Burkhart." He reached into his pocket and closed his hand around the box he'd been carrying with him for the better part of three months and pulled it out, opening the lid as he held it out. " Will you marry me?"

He paused and waited for several moments, Jackie's eyes darting to the box and his face so quickly he almost felt like his head was spinning. Eventually she looked down at the ring one last time before her eyes flicked up to his.

" Really?" Her voice was so small and quiet, barely a whisper.

" I've been trying for months, so yeah." He nodded and before he could blink Jackie had barrelled into his chest, knocking them both back against the windscreen as she squealed in delight against him. Normally he'd complain but all he did was wrap his own arms around her and grin like an idiot into her hair.

She sat back after a moment, peppering kisses over his face before she wiggled the fingers of her left hand and looked at him expectantly.

He breathed a laugh as he pulled the ring from it's box and grabbed her hand, the both of them looking down as he slid the ring onto her finger. He felt something slot into place in his chest as he did so, his heart feeling fuller than he could ever remember.

He looked up to her wide grin, eyes sparkling as she held her hand up and out to see the ring catch the light from the car and moon.

" Mrs. Jackie Hyde." He wasn't sure if she was saying that to him or herself but he couldn't help but smile at it too, pulling her back against him as they settled once again on the car.

A happy wave of silence washed over them for a moment before Jackie sprang up and propped herself against his chest, looking down at him. " Steven, do you know what this means?" he looked at her confused before shaking his head.

" No?" Her eyes twinkled.

" This means that I can talk to you about all my wedding plans and you can't get mad." Hyde let out a long breath but couldn't stop the smile from reaching his lips. He settled back against the car as Jackie's voice washed over him, her long-awaited wedding plans spilling out into the night but he couldn't even feign annoyance in this case.

After all, he did bring this one entirely on himself.


End file.
